Jake and the Neverland Psychics

December 23, 2015

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

NYT's Laurie Goodstein explores how in the midst of terror attacks and fears over ISIS, "some Muslims are beginning to publicly confront the uncomfortable questions that non-Muslims have about Islam and violence, and trying to provide answers, both through words and through the example of how they live their lives."

In a feature at WaPo, Greg Jaffe looks at how President Obama's faith has informed his view of himself as a uniter, and how things haven't worked out they way he'd hoped.

It’s true that disbanding the Iraqi Army after 2003 put professional soldiers at the service of the Sunni insurgency. It’s also true that Al Qaeda in Iraq — the small, foreign-led nucleus of what became the Islamic State — used poorly run American prisons like Camp Bucca to recruit former regime elements. But the significant fact is that those who assumed leadership roles in the Islamic State’s military council had been radicalized earlier, under Mr. Hussein’s regime.

WLOS in Asheville, NC profiles Angelica Jasso, an atheist who opens up her house to strangers in need of friendship for Christmas. That is totally lovely, and I expect Asheville is about the only town in the country where that would be a safe idea.

Rev. Mark H. Creech complains about a mayor who took his oath on the Constitution and not the Bible, because, you know, we're supposed to have a secular government. Creech says this is "woeful ignorance":

You can no more separate our nation's form of government from the Christian religion than you can separate smoke from fire or water from ice.

Well, actually, smoke separates from fire pretty much the moment it comes into existence, and water melts right off of ice...often with the help of the aforementioned fire! So I'm not sure what he's trying to say here.

Kenan Malik at NYT makes a fascinating connection between the backlash against` Donald Trump's anti-Muslim bluster and the attempts to censor Maryam Namazie for criticizing Islam:

I believe Ms. Namazie is right in much of her criticism of Islam, while I agree that Mr. Trump’s attack on Muslims is bigotry. But both, in my view, should be allowed to say what they wish, and if we disagree, we should challenge them publicly. Yet, as the attempts to bar Mr. Trump from entering Britain and prevent Ms. Namazie from addressing students reveal, many would rather their views were not heard at all. ...

Censoring ugly ideas will not make them go away. Mr. Trump’s poll ratings have improved since his comments on Muslim immigration. Many Americans agree with him, and as support for anti-immigration groups show, many Europeans do, too. Keeping Mr. Trump out of Britain will not erase such views. Attitudes will be changed only by publicly challenging them.

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Comments:

And it’s going to work better if that that challenge is based on facts and evidence, rather than morality and name-calling.

Unfortunately, the facts lean Trump’s way on this one.

Look, I REALLY REALLY do not want this guy (or any Republican) to be president. But if the left treats Trump like he isn’t saying anything relevant, and dismisses his supporters, the left is going to lose. Trump’s candidacy has been declared dead so many times this year. Someone forgot to tell his supporters.

And you know, when Le Pen’s party “lost” in France’s regional elections recently, that was spun as a victory for the left. But who really won when Le Pen lost? Sarkozy’s party, The Republicans (who are in international cooperation with US Republicans). THAT is supposed to be a win for the left?

I am so tickled to have seen that video. Still, I don’t believe these are Satanists (of any sort), so much as they are drama club. It strikes me as a living David DeCoteau film.

I wonder though… after the Christians have wet their pants, and vented their outrage, whether they might see this as yet another confirmation of the “end times”, and act out in dangerous ways. I’m not saying this shouldn’t have been done, but asking what we might now expect.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.